Transdermal Alcohol Testing

How the SCRAM CAM Bracelet Tests Through the Skin

If you’ve ever noticed the aroma coming from someone who drank alcohol the night before, then you’ve experienced the very event that spawned the interest of our founders in the science of transdermal alcohol monitoring.

Transdermal Alcohol Testing Explained

While the technology that allows the SCRAM CAM bracelet to effectively test and report alcohol consumption based on transdermal testing is relatively new, the science of transdermal testing is not. Transdermal—or literally “through the skin”—has been known for decades as a reliable way to transport substances, both through absorption and excretion. In the 1920s researchers first began testing the concept of alcohol emissions through the skin. In 1985, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine published two studies on the subject of measuring volatile substances through the skin and measuring alcohol excretion in human perspiration. Today the science is well studied, peer-reviewed, and documented.

The Case Studies, commissioned in 2010, profile six jurisdictions in the U.S. that are using transdermal alcohol monitors—and specifically SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring bracelets—to manage and monitor drunk drivers and other alcohol-involved offenders.

The North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), representing the majority of fraternities across the U.S., recently voted to ban hard alcohol at all fraternity houses and events in hopes to combat alcohol-related deaths of students.

With nearly 1,800 DUI arrests in 2016, Lake County has the one of the highest rates of drunk driving in Illinois. A new alcohol monitoring program is designed to keep repeat offenders sober, 24-hours a day.